The Participation of American and British Youth in Political Life of Their Countries. (43048)

The
Participation of American and British Youth in Political Life of
Their Countries.

Minsk
2008

Content

1.
Introduction
3

2.
Political apathy among the youth
4

3.
Participation in presidential and parliamentary elections
7

4.
Conclusion
15

5.
References
16

Introduction

Politics
is an integral part of our life. And it really doesn’t matter
whether you are a politician by profession or a plumber who is far
from world of politics. Actually you may not be interested in
politics but politics still will be interested in you. The fact is
that every person above 18 years old both in our country and in Great
Britain and the USA from the politician’s point of view is
regarded as a voter, his potential supporter. That’s why the
participation of all the people of the country is so essential and of
great importance for politicians.

Unfortunately
for them the latest public opinion polls showed political
apathy among the young people. The sociologists say that the youth is
simply not interested in political life of their country. The aim of
my work was to find out the reasons for such apathetic attitude.
Besides that I tried to compare the situation in Great Britain and
the USA in order to find out whether
this tendency is general for all modern young people.

While
working on this topic I’ve analysed the results of several
public opinion polls made in Britain and the USA, a lot of newspaper
articles, news articles on the web-sites of BBC and CNN and the
comments of the young people judging this problem.

I’ve
found out that the situation is not so simple and not so definite as
it seemed to me in the very beginning.

Political apathy among the youth

During
the election campaign politicians mobilize all their forces and
possibilities. They are really fighting for voters. According
to the constitutions of the USA, according to the British law as
well, all citizens of both sexes over 18 years of age have a right of
voting. But in reality not all the people exercise this lawful right.
The surveys show that the major part of those who don’t vote is
the people from 18 to 25. That’s why it’s so important
for politicians to provoke interest to politics among the youth.

The
recent research confirms political apathy or
a sense of political alienation
among the young, it says that they are not interested in politics,
don’t want to participate in political life and don't bother
about any political problems of their country. To
modern youths, politics and statesmanship are things best left to the
generation ahead or behind, or to professional politicians and the
newspapers.

Conventional
media wisdom insists young people are simply not interested in
politics. Popular images of youth — causing mayhem, lacking
discipline, escaping responsibilities — suggest young people
are far too busy to engage with politics.

One
of the surveys analyzed the major interests and leisure activities of
today’s American youth. [1]
These
are the results:

99%:
Television

98%
Music

89%
Computers

4%:
Politics

Taking
into consideration these facts we can’t but agree that the
youth don’t treat politics seriously. The lack of interest is
rather obvious, but it’s not as simple as it seems to be. The
"apathetic youth of today" headlines are a dominant media
frame used to explain widespread political disengagement and
declining levels of voting.

Tony
Breslin, head of the Citizenship Foundation which promotes
participation in British life, tried to comment on these results. He
has a different point of view than the above mentioned. He said the
survey dealt with one of the most frequent false assumptions about
the young - that they don't care.

"We
take this lack of interest in politics as a lack of interest in
society," said Mr Breslin.

"But
what we tend to find is that young people lack an interest in a group
of political institutions because they can't see their relevance.

"Research
shows there's a real deficit in knowledge among the young of the
political system - but there's a real interest in single issues. This
doesn't always work through to traditional political channels."
[1]

Mr
Breslin said government ambitions to reconnect youth to institutions
needed far more than the lip service of the past - but the recent
introduction of citizenship to the national curriculum was a good
start.

You
have to understand the system to be able to understand the news in
the first place. A person can find out a fair amount from what his
parents, but what about the people whose parents don't understand it,
because their parents didn't either?

The
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme has published the results of its
nationwide survey of youth opinion to help find out what our future
adults do, say, think and want.

The
results suggest there is a level of frustration among many of the
young and a degree of fear for their own security in a world where
all too often they are the ones blamed when things go wrong.

One
of the major themes emerging from the research is frustration with
political institutions and authorities.

More
than half recognised the way the country runs affects the quality of
their lives - but 68% believed the government does not listen to
young people.

Three
quarters said it was difficult to make their views known.

Only
half of those in the survey said they understood how the country is
run, the figure falling further among those from poorer backgrounds.

“You
have to understand the system to be able to understand the news in
the first place. Perhaps a regular article or a tutorial-like website
with 'beginners politics' is what we need?” (Helen
Hogg, 17, England) [1]

"What
we see among young people is that if they get involved locally in an
issue and if they are listened to and share in taking decisions, then
that sense of involvement grows from the local to the national,"
said Steve Sharp.

"But
we have to remember that the government can't tell people to be more
interested in politics, it doesn't work that way." [1]

Participation in presidential and parliamentary elections

If
we want to find out the rate of activity of people in political life
of a country we can look at the number of voters who take part in
parliamentary and presidential elections. It will be the right
indicator of activity.

According
to the British Election Survey, only 52% of the under 24s voted at
the 2001 General Election - some 2.2m people. [1] That came a year
after research warned the televising of Parliament was turning off an
entire generation of new voters.

In
2006 in the USA, 650 people aged 18-30 were surveyed. 80 percent said
they were registered to vote, but the pollsters think some of them
were lying. Mr. Goeas, a consultant with the Republican Tarrance
Group predicted that only 35 percent of those surveyed would actually
vote. Almost a quarter of the respondents have little to no interest
in the election, and a gender gap is evident, with men generally
expressing greater interest than women. [6]

Well,
the figures speak by themselves.

Another
indicator of political activity is the attitude of a person to
political parties, whether he attaches himself to any party or not
and why.

There
was a public opinion poll made in the Manchester and London area the
aim of which was to find out how the young people felt about party
politics. These are some of the comments:

“To
be honest I’m not too bothered. I don’t keep up with
developments at Westminster [the site of UK government]. These days
my job, my cash flow and socialising are more important!”(Tom,
28, from Manchester)

“I
can’t relate to any of the politicians. They all seem fairly
similar and rarely listen to young people.” (Fiona, 25, from
London) [6]

Of
course these two comments can’t represent the opinion of all
the youth, but unfortunately they represent the opinion of the
majority of both British and American youth.

“Young
people lack an interest in a group of political institutions because
they can't see their relevance” (Joseph,
20, UK) [1]

Of
course it's true that many young people take no notice of the
government or the countrys' leaders, but I'd say that some find it
thought provoking and genuinely fascinating.

Well,
in my opinion the above situation envisages us the problem of lack of
information. The majority of the young people have no idea how they
can make their suggestion and problems be heard. Though there is a
solution and some of the young people participate actively in
resolving some very topical for youth questions. For example, in
the Midlands there are loads of things that can help involve young
people in politics and help them voice their concerns. The
Young People's Parliament,
based at Millennium Point aims to get young people involved in
politics. It provides a meeting place where young people can discuss
issues, which affect the youth of Birmingham.